Teachers petition Biya over discrimination in sector

Teachers of Technical Education under the Umbrella of CATET, (Cameroon Association of Technical Education Teachers), have petitioned the Head of State, Paul Biya for what they say is government’s discrimination in the recruitment of teachers in recent years.

The teachers arrived at the decision at a meeting in Bamenda that brought together hundreds of teachers, on May 16.

Speaking to the Cameroon Journal after the Bamenda meeting, Ninpa Francis, Coordinator of CATET, said some of the issues affecting them include the blatant discrimination against technical education teachers in the on-going recruitment of Grade I teachers in Cameroon; government’s stoppage in recruitment of technical education teachers since 2009; the scarcity of teachers in technical schools; lack of infrastructure and equipment in technical schools; and the halt in the organization of in-service professional examination by the Ministry of Public Service.

“Government stopped recruiting CAPIET certificate holders since 2009, while recruitment of CAPIEMP holders goes on yearly,” Ninpa lamented. He said in 2014 government recruited 3500 CAPIEMP certificate holders and this year the recruitment of 2970 CAPIEMP certificate holders has been announced with a corresponding zero recruitment for holders of CAPIET.

“CATET considers this as injustice and discrimination to Cameroonians with same qualification in the technical sector, though they were all trained by the same government,” Ninpa stated. He went on to stress that the consequence of this is that “learners in our technical colleges are being taught by untrained teachers recruited by Parent Teachers Associations.”

The CATET coordinator said the teachers also observed with dismay, the rampant creation of technical schools with no corresponding infrastructure or equipment. As a result, the colleges send out half-baked graduates who cannot meet the demands of the job market.

The resolutions of the meeting included an appeal to government to recruit technical education certificate holders into the Public Service; advise to government to reduce the rampant creation of technical schools and concentrate on equipping the existing ones; call on the Ministry of Public Service to relaunch the annual in-service professional exams for contractualised technical Grade I teachers; and the resolve to sensitize parents and guardians on the need to send their children to technical schools.

The teachers pledged their total support to the Head of State, Paul Biya, and the country’s defence forces for their patriotic efforts in combating the Boko Haram sect that is threatening the peace of Cameroon.